Here's an album that might receive some backlash, either that or people don't know it. This is also the longest write-up in the entire top 50, so bear with me (do you guys actually read this stuff?). Without many more words, I present you the final album before the top 10.
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11. maudlin of the Well – Bath (2001) 
This is a classic in the avant-garde metal genre. That sentence alone is probably more than enough to scare off some people, but that really shouldn’t have to be the case. Still, I’m 100% convinced that this album was not meant to appeal to everyone. I also think that motW mastermind Toby Driver does not care in the slightest. He just creates music as he sees fit, as both the outputs from motW and his other band Kayo Dot show. (By the way, Kayo Dot will not be featured in this list, because while I think ‘Choirs of the Eye’ is a really good record of theirs, I’m not too confident about liking it as of now. It might slip in at a later iteration).
maudlin of the Well is (or was?) an avant-garde metal band and all they have released a total of 4 albums. Of those, the most well-known are ‘Bath’ and ‘Leaving Your Body Map’, both released in 2001 and both quite similar in style, although the latter is probably less heavy and less insane. That said, ‘Bath’ really isn’t really the insane heavy album this write-up might make it seem. In fact, there’s only a couple of moments on this album where stuff really gets heavy. They happen to be some of the best moments as well. A lot of this album is really atmospheric and strangely atmospheric in a very weird way, for the lyrics sung are often slightly out-of-tune and they’re down-right messed-up as well. “I am the swan’s wings, bloodied at the joint. And pasted to a boy’s back, like in those stories”. Imagine that being sung in a hyptonising voice against a backdrop of soft acoustic guitar playing. In the same song, things take a turn when the drummer starts playing blast-beats and the guitarist plays these very fast arpeggios. No growling or anything in the entire track, just pure madness. “Slowly insert the dagger again.” (This was
Heaven and Weak by the way).
The album comprises a total of 10 tracks, of which two are short instrumental interludes (which are conveniently named
Interlude 1 and
Interlude 2 as well). Among the remainder of the tracks are two shorter ballad-like songs;
Marid’s Gift of Art, which is nice and
Geography, a great closer to the album). Then there’s the instrumental album opener
The Blue Ghost / Shedding Qliphoth, which is stylistically similar to the interlude tracks. What’s left is the five long weird avant-garde tracks. I’ve already said a little about
Heaven and Weak, but the general trend of what I wrote there applies to the others as well.
They Aren’t All Beautiful is practically the song that opens the album, because even though the first track is almost 8 minutes long, it feels almost redundant to have had that nice soothing atmosphere; the moment
They Aren’t All beautiful kicks in, you’re supposed to be floored. It’s easily the heaviest track on the album and frankly, also my favourite. Featuring a bunch of riffs after each other, an abundance of harsh vocals, blast-beats and very fast guitar playing, it’s pretty amazing. It also wouldn’t be avant-garde without random stuff happening, so there’s a weird breakdown in the middle featuring trombone and tuba; why the hell not?
The Ferryman is the third long song on the album and it might well be even weirder than that song about pasting swan wings to the backs of boys. Seriously, it opens with a church organ, then stops, then there’s song random hitting on cymbals, the song then kicks in with harsh vocals and heavy guitars, the church organ makes a return in a chorus where there’s suddenly a woman singing as well (where did she come from?), then it slows down and ends in what sounds like tormented people suffocating and people dropping bricks in water. This all flows into
Marid’s Gift of Art, the first ballad of two on the album. Again, featuring some of the weirdest lyrics I have ever read. But you seriously believe him when he says “I could make everyone so happy, beautiful like you.” It’s an oasis of silence and rest before the next songs kicks in. This one probably has the most standard structure out of all the songs on the album and features some nice trumpet and acoustic guitar.
Girl With a Watering Can is up next and opens with a clarinet playing the intro melody from the album’s first track, before the rest of the band kicks in. Another highlight of the album really, this one isn’t any less weird than the other longer tracks. Featuring a heavy dose of that woman singing again, the song takes off only about half-way through. I think it’s actually the least heavy song of the five big ones. It’s certainly the slowest, but it’s also by far the most beautiful. (They aren’t all, but this one is). There’s a short part at the end that’s kind-of disjointed from the rest of the song that’s slightly heavier, but overall this one has nothing on the beast the follows.
Birth Pains of Astral Projection gets the prize for being the most fucked-up song on the record. It has a very long build-up and gets quite heavy in the end, with weird growls over clean parts in the instruments somewhere in the middle and again, very weird lyrics all the way through. There’s honestly a lot more to say about this track too, but I feel like I’m writing too much already.
Right, last track then.
Geography is a great highlight at the end of the album. The circle is complete as the album goes back into soothing, relaxing territory with this ballad song. Again though, what’s up with those weird lyrics? “Breath is real, anger’s real. Sleep on your birthday and cry. Cry, my baby. Let me wash you, I have no ears for my lady.” You could probably write a whole write-up just about how silly all lyrics on the album are.
Geography is based on pretty simple melodies and at the ending the song actually takes an unexpected turn, with the electric guitar playing the underlying melody all of a sudden. The chorus lyrics get repeated a couple of time, and despite their weirdness, this might genuinely be the album at its most catchy. Avant-garde is not really my thing, but this album hits all the right spots. And so I end what has become the longest write-up on this list by far.
Favourite song: They Aren’t All Beautiful
Other songs worth checking out: Girl With a Watering Can, The Ferryman, Geography
Other stuff by this band: This album always gets paired with ‘Leaving Your Body Map’, because they were released at the same time. LYBM is very good, but Bath is slightly more distinguished. The band’s two other albums are either inferior (‘My Fruit Psychobells…A Seed Combustible’), or so vastly different (‘Part the Second’), that comparing them is very difficult. I can also recommend the band Kayo Dot, if you like this stuff. It’s fronted by the same guy.
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